How do you light your alcohol stove?

[Odd Man Out]

For those who use alcohol stoves, what's your preference for lighting it? I've been using an ordinary butane lighter with a book of matches in my bag of small essential gear that lives in my pack. But I'm always looking for better ideas. Anyone use piezo or fire steel lighters?

[ChrisJackson]

I just started using a Vargo Ti Flint lighter. Love it. Lasts forever(?). Just gotta hang on to it.

[MuddyWaters]

take a straw of dried grass or a long twig, dip it in the alcohol, light it with lighter, and use it to light the stove

Or burn fingers and knuckles


firesteels will work great for alcohol, but they are a somewhat less versatile means of making fire.

[Odd Man Out]

I could have added that I don't generally look for build campfires. I would want something that lives in my cook pot mostly for lighting the stove.

[Odd Man Out]

I've avoided burning fingers by picking up the stove in one hand, tilting it until the fuel is at the lower lip, and light. Just not a fan of butane lighters for some reason.

[Traffic Jam]

MSR Piezo igniter

[BirdBrain]

MSR Piezo igniter

I do that as well. Some have suggested that it does not work. Here is the trick. Dip the tip in the alcohol. Raise the igniter just above the alcohol. Ignite the igniter. The fuel in the igniter will light which lights the fuel in the stove. Lift the igniter. Blow the igniter out.

This does not work when the fuel is really cold. For those times and to burn off residual fuel after I recover excess fuel after boiling my water, I use a "stick" that I created out of carbon fiber felt and thin stainless steel wire. The carbon fiber felt burns at a temperature about double of the burning temperature of the alcohol. The felt is absorbent, but will not melt as the fuel burns. This makes for a reusable and dependable stick. I dip the stick I made into the fuel, light the stick with a mini bic, and then light the stove with my stick. I do not like to put anything into my stove other than fuel and the ignition source. Foreign material can be sucked up into the ribs of my stove and clog things up.

I will try to find a picture and post it here.

Here is the tip of it. The wire is long enough to be safe, but short enough to fit in my grease pot.

One other note. The reason I am concerned with using a real stick is because I do not want bark floating in my stove's bowl. Unlike some stoves, the fuel in the stove is not what is burning. The flame originates just above the stove. The visible fuel in the bowl is not burning. Anything dropped into the bowl could potentially make its may into the chambers of my stove. What I am describing is visible in the video AK uploaded for me that shows my stove running on my hand. Because my stove is balanced to not have fuel burning in the bowl, it is a stove does not get hot.



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[RangerZ]

I use a cat food stove. I experimented a little bit to determine the number of holes and the amount of fuel needed to boil water in a reasonable time. I punched one hole at the correct lower height for the amount of fuel that I need. I use the foil seal from a Nido can as a base, the stove is full when the fuel just spills out of the stove onto the base – no measuring. I then light the spillage which preheats the stove and lights the fuel in it. I just use a lighter, but have used matches and a flint/steel.

[Odd Man Out]

Thanks JJ and BB. May try that piezo trick. For the foreseeable future I would be hiking in warm weather so cold weather use is not a concern. When I did some cold weather tests last winter (minus 5 F) I just dropped a wooden kitchen match in the stove. It hasn't suffered performance but it was just one test. The carbon fiber wick would seem to function the same as the match.

[rmitchell]

take a straw of dried grass or a long twig, dip it in the alcohol, light it with lighter, and use it to light the stove

Or burn fingers and knuckles


firesteels will work great for alcohol, but they are a somewhat less versatile means of making fire.

+1 on the dry twig dipped in alcohol

[mtnkngxt]

Ti, flint striker.

[Siestita]

I use a a lighter to light a birthday candle which then ignites the alcohol in the bottom of my simple, "no frills nor holes" Fancy Feast can "stove". I can also get the alcohol lit with just the lighter, but at the risk of burning the tips of my fingers. When used for stove or camp fire lighting, one birthday candle lasts me about a week.

And, yes, instead of using the candle, I've sometimes lit a twig with my little lighter. (Cue fiery denunciation by ultralight devotees of each "unnecessary" gram that my birthday candle weighs.)

[Starchild]

I use the Starlyte stove which can be lit much safer with a lighter since the alcohol can not come out, it can be tipped easily.

Splash uses a twig dipped in fuel, or sometimes a match she lights with a lighter.

[Five Tango]

After seeing the safety video which showed that a man's leg had been blown off after a welding spark hit the plastic gas lighter in his pocket,I became slightly less trusting of plastic lighters.That's why I keep a piece of a kabob skewer in my cookpot.Dip it,light it.I guess the clean sharp end could be used as a toothpick in order to avoid arrest by the gram police.

[nsherry61]

I just drop a spark in from my fire steel.

[Odd Man Out]

I just drop a spark in from my fire steel.

I was wondering how this work. I have not used one before. How reliable would this be for lighting a stove?

[Another Kevin]

Lighter or firesteel, whichever is convenient.

My stove is cantankerous about getting started in temperatures below about 20F, so when it gets cold, I put a wisp of TP and a few drops of alcohol in the base to serve as a primer. I've used it in -5F with that arrangement. I'm sure it wastes fuel because it burns like a rocket until the primer has burnt out, but it surely refutes the argument that alcohol stoves don't work in cold weather.

I still haven't got around to trying the eCHS, despite having posted BB's video.

[BirdBrain]

I was wondering how this work. I have not used one before. How reliable would this be for lighting a stove?

I am very curious about this too. I have tried a striker that is used for lighting burning torches will little success. No, I never intended to carry a burning torch striker. It seemed logical to me that it would provide me with some idea as to how my stove would light on the trail using a flint style apparatus. It was difficult to light my stove at home inside. Therefore, I dismissed this as not being a reliable method. I suspect my ignorance is not letting me see what others see. I know others use fire steel or something similar. I believe AK lights his penny stove that way. The other thing is that it seemed to me that particles were being tossed into the bowl. For a cat stove this would not be an issue. For our stove that might be an issue.

Edit: I was typing while AK was posting. I thought he might chime in. I thought he used this method

[nsherry61]

I think there is enough more and hotter sparks dropping into the stove from a fire steel than a little sparker that I have never even had to strike it twice. I haven't used any of my alcohol stoves in cold winter conditions however. And sure, there are sometimes little tiny black dust bits that it may leave behind, if that is a problem.

[Malto]

I used the trail designs stove and when cold, I pour a bit of fuel in the base and light it. that heats the stove and fuel enough to light the stove and burn hot. In other times I just put a drop of fuel on the top lip and light.